What are the project management maturity levels?

Question

I read that there are 5 project management maturity levels, what are they? And what do they represent?

My logical explanation to the term is how mature is project management for a certain organization, is this true? And if yes (or even no), then who uses the maturity levels and for what. Are maturity levels used to assess project management (as a practice) by a 3rd party company or internally to enhance project management (in case my logical explanation is correct), are they used by investors?

In short, here's what I want to know:

- What are PM maturity levels?
- Who uses them?
- Why do they exist?

Answer 1

Let me start by answering your 3 questions (the last part in your question).

There are 5 Project Management Maturity Levels:

Project Management Maturity Level 1: Ad-hoc. We do project management when we need it.
Project Management Maturity Level 2: Planned. We plan for projects.
Project Management Maturity Level 3: Managed. Formal project management is applied in some departments, but not all.
Project Management Maturity Level 4: Integrated.  Formal project management is applied in all departments.
Project Management Maturity Level 5: Sustained. Formal project management is applied across the organization, and projects affect and are affected by the organization's overall strategy (In other words, Program Management exists at this level).

Knowing the PM maturity level of a company is an important factor to assess the efficiency of the company, and hence it's mostly used by business people.

Comments

These levels are specific to the Kerzner Project Management Maturity Model.  There are some that do not believe that having levels is the best way to introduce project management change to an organization.  You might look at PMI's OPM3 (Organizational Project Management Maturity Model) as a viable alternative.